Written by former Senate education staffer and journalist Alexander Russo, This Week in Education covers education news, policymakers, and trends with a distinctly political edge. (For archives prior to January 2007, please click here. For posts after November 2007, please click here.) Comments on this blog are now closed.

By Alexander Russo October 15, 2007 at 1:59 PM

Last week, pretty much the only blog that linked to me was the union critic Mike Antonucci (aka EIA). This week so far, it's the pro-union Dr. Homselisce (Teach For America). Pathetic, I know. But readers keep finding me even without the links, and I'll take a link whether it agrees with me or not. This one, perhaps not surprisingly given TFA as a subject, does....

By Alexander Russo October 15, 2007 at 12:41 PM

Clinton focuses on education in radio ad in South Carolina AP Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton launched her second radio ad Monday in early voting South Carolina, focusing on her plan to make college more affordable and preschool available to all children. Abstinence approach gets unlikely ally Los Angeles Times Though Democrats have taken control of Congress, abstinence-only programs are surviving attempts to shut them down. And they could even get an increase with the aid of an unlikely ally: House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey, one of the old liberal lions. Blurring Lines Among Both Students and ...

By Alexander Russo October 15, 2007 at 12:07 PM

According to this NY Daily News article, Randi Weingarten, head of the NYC teachers union and potential successor to AFT president Ed McElroy, came out at a recent event as a lesbian. This is probably not such a big deal in New York City, but in the rest of the country, who knows....

By Alexander Russo October 15, 2007 at 10:42 AM

Newbie blogger Charles Barone annotates (eviscerates?) a Mike Smith-Bruce Fuller op-ed (Smith & Fuller Automatic Revolver). Joanne Jacobs passes us a secret note that there's a girl's version of The Dangerous Book For Boys out (The girly book for girls). I'm not sure she's a fan of either. TeacherKen says that Barack Obama's education plan is ok (Decent, not spectacular), which is probably as much as Obama can ask for. Make Mike Goldstein happy and watch this ABC News segment on his charter school in Boston (via Eduwonk). From the picture, it looks like they make the teachers work in the ...

By Alexander Russo October 15, 2007 at 10:02 AM

Chicago has a newish "grow your own" teachers initiative, as well as the nation's largest set of military-themed schools: Grow Your Own Teachers US News & World Report Tired of seeing first-year teachers flee to suburban schools, Illinois is spending $7.5 million to help people become teachers in underperforming schools in neighborhoods like their own. Reading, writing, recruiting? Tribune Chicago Public Schools, which already has the largest junior military reserve program in the nation, on Monday will commission the country's first public high school run by the U.S. Marines, much to the chagrin of activists who have fought to ...